Saturday Night in Sutter Creek 824 words

By Antoinette May Herndon

Maybe you know my husband, Charles Herndon. He’s a Cancer through and through. Would anyone other than a Moonchild design a product for building houses and call it Homeplan Software? Home is definitely where their hearts are and Charles is no exception.

He has also designed and built two houses by hand and helped friends and family with the construction of many others. Charles is awfully good around the house, too. He can fix everything—including breakfast nearly every morning.

Now, one needn’t be an astrologer to know that Cancers are foodies right from the egg. (It’s Charles who should really be writing Foothill Flavors.) Nearly all Moonchildren are gourmets at heart but most like comfort food best of all.

Could anything fill that bill better than pizza? That’s exactly what a small “focus group” of family and friends recently decided when they gathered to celebrate Charles’s birthday.

Most of us had heard tales of a new place, a creek side pizzeria in Sutter Creek, but it turned out that Ed Cline and Brenda Nasser were already aficionados of the much talked about Pizza Plus. “Tuesday night is our night,” they told us. “We go every week.”

Recently you read me rave about the culinary excellence of the Cline- Nasser team, so you can understand that we needed no higher recommendation than theirs. We were off and running.

Pizza Plus, Sutter Creek’s new kid in town, is located in one of those old tumbledown buildings that add such charm to the Gold Rush village.

When we arrived, all the outside tables seemed to be taken; the eatery’s interior was busy too. We wanted to party, to make our own noise—not listen to anyone else’s. When a member of the wait staff suggested the basement, we agreed to

check it out.

Actually our private dining room was many cuts above a basement. Talk about atmosphere! Looking about the subterranean room, stone-lined, windows up near the ceiling, we pondered: Who used this room and for what purpose?

I privately speculated that it might be haunted, but there was no way to know. We were all laughing, chattering, having so much fun, we wouldn’t have noticed a ghost if it had fluttered a bed sheet right in our faces.

It turned out that the room which looked very like a dungeon had actually been a bank during the Gold Rush days. Oh, the stories those old stones could tell.

There were ten of us and we covered the menu fast. Everything looked so good! Marion and Dave Lauter (Charles’s daughter and son-in-law) ordered White Chicken Delight (cheese, white sauce, red onions, artichoke hearts, chicken and bacon) as did Ed and Brenda.

Irene and Mike Boylson chose the Super Plus Special (cheese, pepperoni, ham, yellow onions, chicken, pineapple and bacon). Charles and I went for the All Meat (cheese, salami, pepperoni, ham, Linguica, bacon and sausage.

Each of the four couples shared a large pizza. The pies come in small, medium, large and giant sizes. A large pizza, priced at $18.50, is more than enough for two. We were all delighted. Pizza Plus bills itself as the best pizzaria in Amador County. We disagreed. Theirs is—at the very least—the best pizza in three counties.

Barry Griffin was equally pleased with his small-size Moe’s BBQ Chicken with its cheese, Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce, red onions, chicken, pineapple and bacon ingredients. ($11.) His wife, Ginger, was disappointed with her enhanced house salad. ($6.50) Perhaps salad is not the way to go at Pizza Plus.

All of us were delighted with our shared pitcher

of draft beer ($9).

The evening ended with the presentation of a large chocolate cake made by Brenda and served by a staff member who also provided plates. It’s nice to know when planning a celebration that bringing in an outside cake is not only OK with the establishment but facilitated.

Charles and I were so pleased with Pizza Plus that we returned on a recent Saturday night by ourselves. This time our venue was the back garden beside the creek. A guitar trio, Over the Edge, was playing. It was one of those dreamy summer nights you wait all year for.

We opted for two “boy mugs” (24 ounces--$$4.50 each) of excellent draft beer. DARK and strong. This time we selected our own pizza toppings: Sausage, anchovies, artichoke hearts, garlic, jalapenos and black olives. The price for a medium pizza with four toppings is $15. We went with an additional topping for 75.

Charles and I don’t agree on everything by any means, but this time reaching consensus was a no brainer. The pizza crust was perfect, its sauce elegant, each topping superb. Pizza Plus is not only the best pizza served in three counties but the best either of us have ever tasted anywhere.

VITALS: Pizza Plus is located at 20 Eureka St., Sutter Creek. Phone: 267-1900. Open every day ll a.m. to 9 p.m. Also pizza to go. Credit cards accepted.

PICTURES:

2 exteriors Pizza Plus in Sutter Creek has old fashioned charm

Ginger Bennet relaxes in the garden entrance to Pizza Plus.

Pizza Plus in Sutter Creek makes for a happy birthday venue.

The banquet room at Pizza Plus was once a bank.

All ages enjoy the music at Pizza Plus in Sutter Creek.

Pizza is the name of the game at Sutter Creek’s popular Pizza Plus